Feline leukemia

Okay so I have 2 kittens (supposedly from the same litter) I got them 2 weeks ago they were in the same cage (there was also a brother but I didn't see a mom) the shelter said they were 8 weeks old, in the end I got the two sisters.

Okay so I took them to the vet the first day I got them and the forms the shelter gave me said they were tested negative for the hiv/ leukemia so the vet didn't test them again. The next week I took them to a different vet because they were sick and again they weren't tested because the forms said they already had been.. This was when I noticed the forms were completely wrong for example they were said to be a different gender ages not the same mom (basically everything was wrong except their pictures) the next week I had a vet appt. (which was yesterday) so I asked my vet to test them to be sure since the doccuments were messed up he did the in vet test (on one kitten because they are supposedly litter mates) and said that she came back a false positive (don't know what that means) but I guess he said it because the shelter has to test them. After this we decided to send both of their blood sent to a lab today the results came back from the lab and the kitten that tested positive on the in vet test tested positive again but the kitten that wasn't tested at first tested negative??? I don't understand this because they have been together for at least two weeks and clean eachother and share a litter box so wouldn't they have to both have it??????? I'm at a complete loss and don't know what to do they both eat drink and play and seem healthy (they gained .6 lbs in a week!) please help

I don't know that much about it, but have heard it's not that uncommon for them to test false negative or false positive at that young age, and honestly thought one needed to wait another 90 days to retest on those false positives.  That's just my understanding, but I've been know to be wrong before. 

Did you ask YOUR Vet how it was possible for this to happen, with litter mates and with them grooming each other, etc.?   What is there recommendation since they have already been together for so long?

mrsgreenjeens said:

I don't know that much about it, but have heard it's not that uncommon for them to test false negative or false positive at that young age, and honestly though one needed to wait another 9o days to retest on those false positives.  That's just my understanding, but I've been know to be wrong before. 

Did you ask YOUR Vet how it was possible for this to happen, with litter mates and with them grooming each other, etc.?   What is there recommendation since they have already been together for so long?

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My vet said to seperate them for now until retest (he said wait 6 weeks but that seems long) and to get the one who tested negative a vaccine & she won't need another test. The vet said it could have been antibodies from the mama but from what I've heard antibodies don't show on lab test, and why wouldn't both have antibodies? It breaks my heart having to seperate them because they have never been apart if I leave one alone all she does is cry, so I've been spending as much time with each as possible. To top it all off I'm going away on vacation for three weeks (a family will be coming over every day & on the second week is taking them to the vet for their third shot &such) but this family friend doesn't know much about cats (knows everything about dogs though) and I'm worried their health can't be tracked as good as well as if they are eating and drinking enough. The kittens are also used to having eachother and a human almost all the time and to go to having neither is just heartbreaking. I'm trying to do what is best but I'm just not sure. Thanks for all of your input

Wow, that DOES complicate things   So can you get the negative kitten vaccinated right away, or do you have to wait a little while longer?  How long does it take for it to "kick in". I'm guessing somehow the entire process will be 6 weeks

Personally I would not separate them.  My vet says tests are not reliable under three months of age, even though all adoption agencies test them.  The most reliable test is to test the MOTHER cat.  If she is negative and the babies were never exposed to another cat, the babies are negative.

As for separating them, I would not do it.  You can go ahead and get the negative one vaccinated, but their mental and emotional well being is even more important than the physical possibility of being exposed to the virus.  It is not highly contagious even with licking and sharing food bowls.  The idea of leaving them separated while you go on vacation is just unacceptable to me.  The stress alone would be enough to cause illness.  Leave them together and let them have happy lives, hopefully long ones, but if not long, at least happy, not crying their hearts out for each other.

By the way, I know of at least one kitten who tested positive for several months, was placed as an only kitten, was given Interferon orally for quite awhile, and reverted to negative.  He is now two years old and perfectly healthy.

I fully agree, I would not separate!

The fact of the matter is, if a kitten at 10 weeks tested positive twice, it is highly likely all kittens will eventually test positive too.

At this young age, it came from the mama cat, and she should be tested.

This is why my rescue's vet will batch test siblings, if there are say 4 sibs, he will take blood from 2, if any one is pos then he waits 4 weeks and retests all.

If neg, he knows they are all neg.

There are also faint positives, but with time it will become a strong/certain pos.

Separating them will do nothing but hurt them, they need each other's companionship and would be cruel to take that away.

When you say vaccinate the neg kitten, are you talking about a normal FVRCP vaccine or an felv vaccine?

Edit, sorry I just read your first post again, they may not be siblings then if their age doesn't match.

The neg kitten should be vaccinated with the felv vaccine, yes.